


Comfort in the Uncomfortable

by VeteranKlaus



Series: Marching Drums [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Homelessness, Humour, Implied/Referenced Homelessness, Insomnia, kinda sad, sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 05:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18492796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeteranKlaus/pseuds/VeteranKlaus
Summary: Sometimes Klaus' bed is just a little too comfortable.





	Comfort in the Uncomfortable

There were many odd things that came with living in the academy once more, with all of his siblings getting along and with no dear ol' daddy to torment their every waking and sleeping moment. Klaus could make a list. The fact that he and Luther could hold a pleasant conversation was on the list. The time Klaus walked in on Five with some stray puppy he'd decided to adopt would definitely be up there, too. Each of them taking a day of the week to cook dinner - Klaus had pointed out how unfair it was, because if Ben wouldn't stay physically manifested then Klaus would have to do all the work. Five told him to suck it up and work on his powers, then. He had a point.

 

Other than odd things, there were some things that simply needed getting used to. Seeing his siblings in general, living in the academy, having meals at a dining table, family meetings, etcetera. One thing that Klaus had to get used to, though, that he hadn't even realised would be a problem, was sleeping in his own bed.

 

Reginald had been a bastard in every sense of the word, but he hadn't been cheap. They had nice furniture, including their beds. If they were sleep deprived then it affected their training, or whatever, so their mattresses were _good_. If not for ghosts and nightmares then Klaus would sleep like a baby every night. And the first few nights, hell, first few weeks sleeping in something so soft, even if he was a little too tall for it now, had been damn amazing.

 

Then it simply... wasn't. Klaus had left the academy at seventeen with nowhere to go, and until returning to the academy at thirty once more, he had been sleeping in alleyways with rocks digging into his back, or he'd sleep on the couch or carpet of some strangers house. Occasionally he'd get a bed if he and the guy really hit it off, but if he was at the same crack party Klaus was at was it like he was going to have enough money to get an amazing bed too? Then, of course, the beds in rehab; cheap and small, sometimes broken. And the cots in Vietnam hadn't been much better; small and thin, humid, with blood stains. 

 

Klaus wasn't used to comfortable. The bed was nice at first, but he didn't like the way he sunk into it, how his duvet was thick and fluffy, how warm and quiet his room was. It was all too peaceful that it simply didn't sit right with him.

 

So, Klaus didn't sleep there. He'd find himself falling asleep elsewhere; most often the couches in the living room. They were the comfortable-uncomfortable kind of thing he was used to, and something he could appreciate and enjoy. He fell asleep there because the way it didn't move underneath him, how when he jerked awake it hurt to hit his head down on its thin cushions, how his feet pushed against the arm of the chair, legs too long to stretch out; it was familiar, and there was comfort in the familiar. It was like the time he'd crashed a house party for some young people that offered him lines of coke and they'd let him crash on his couch for a solid week before asking him to leave.

 

Elsewhere, Klaus would find himself falling asleep during meals at the dining table, slouched in the dining chair. A lot of the time he would simply slump against a wall or spread out on the floor. He downloaded some noise app on his phone and fell asleep to the sounds of rain and wind and cars playing in his ears. Sometimes he would leave his window open a little just to feel the draft. It also worked in making him fall asleep quicker and easier, even if he woke up with a sore neck. It was the normal for Klaus, and he appreciated the normal when he had been thrown out of it with moving back in with his family.

 

It wasn't really a problem, he thought. He was simply sleeping in places and positions he found comfortable, even if they were a little odd, but his siblings seemed more concerned about it.

 

Klaus woke up to yelling. Again, not really an uncommon thing, but not necessarily pleasant. Plus, it felt like he'd been kicked, and now someone was grabbing onto his arm. 

 

"Klaus! What the hell?" Ah, Diego. Wonderful. 

 

Klaus blinked his tired eyes open, glowering up at his sibling who looked a curious mix of angry, worried, and confused. 

 

"What, Diego?" Klaus bit. Being wrenched so abruptly from his sleep was not pleasant, and if not for the throbbing pain in his back and shoulders then he would have been ready to fall right back to sleep.

 

"What are - are you alright, first?" He asked, and Klaus reached out, grabbing hold of the staircase bannister beside them and using it to haul himself to his feet. Satisfied he wasn't about to go tumbling down the stairs, Diego let go of his arm.

 

"I _was_ ," Klaus muttered, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "You woke me up, though - did you _kick_ me? You can just, like, shake me, you know?" He said, and Diego rolled his eyes.

 

"I didn't do it on purpose, dumbass," Diego retorted, "you were," he waved his hands at the stairs, "you were on the stairs! I didn't even notice you until you almost went and broke your jaw again!"

 

Klaus gasped. "You saw that like you kicking me is my own fault!" He replied, pointing an accusatory finger at his brother. "Well, on you go, you've successfully woken me up," he stated. One hand pinched the bridge of his nose while the other waved Diego away, but his brother shook his head, reaching out to take his arm and pull Klaus downstairs with him.

 

"Nuh-uh. It's not the first time you've been sleeping like an idiot. Family meeting!" Diego's voice rang clear throughout the hall, and Klaus cringed.

 

"All of this over me falling asleep on some stairs," he muttered, disdainfully shaking his head. "I'd go so far as to say that you cared!" 

 

Diego gave him a look, but they sat down in the living room and waited for everyone else to arrive slowly.

 

"What's going on?" Luther asked. He looked like he'd been about to sleep as well.

 

"Literally nothing," Klaus said, waving his hands. Diego glared at him, but now everyone was here.

 

"I'm not the only one who's noticed Klaus' fucked up sleeping habits lately," he stated, and there was a surprising amount of head nods from all of his siblings.

 

"Again?" Allison asked.

 

"Staircase. Literally curled on the second top-stair - I almost kicked him down the flight," Diego informed.

 

"Again, you say it like it's _my_ fault you're a blind old man!" He exclaimed, hands in the air. "Open your eyes!"

 

"He has a point, Klaus," Five perked up. "You've been sleeping anywhere but your bed recently. It's annoying."

 

Klaus spluttered. "Says you - you were hogging the couch the other day!" He stated.

 

Five rolled his eyes. "That was after training. And only for like, an hour. Not a full blown night."

 

"You were on the kitchen table a couple nights ago," Vanya interrupted sheepishly.

 

"I found you on the bench outside. It was raining." Yeah, that hadn't been the best nights sleep he had gotten, but hey. He had slept.

 

"In the middle of the hallway. Spread out like a starfish. I thought you were drunk."

 

Klaus waved his hands, shaking his head.

 

"Alright, alright, alright. I get it! I'm a sleepy little boy, okay, I fall asleep where I am. It's no problem!" He defended. "I'm sleeping, aren't I?"

 

"Except for when you almost get kicked down a flight of stairs," Diego retorted. Klaus glared at him. 

 

" _Again_ , brother. _Not my fault_."

 

"Is there a problem with your bed?" Luther asked, sounding exasperated.

 

Klaus shrugged. "No," he answered. He leaned forwards to drop his chin on his hands. "I just can't fall asleep on it, I dunno."

 

"Is it broken? If you tell Pogo he'll buy a new one. There's plenty of spare beds, too, Klaus. They're good beds; surely sleeping on the floor can't be comfortable," Vanya said, head tipped to the side.

 

Klaus cringed, shifting in his seat and shrugging. "That's the thing," he said, pointing at her. He had learned quickly that these stupid meetings never ended until they spoke about the issue, and it was easiest to just get it done and over with. "It's comfortable. _Too_ comfortable."

 

"How can something be too comfortable?" Diego asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow.

 

Klaus gave him a look, before taking in a deep breath. "I left here at seventeen, yeah. It's not like we had friends outside we could crash with, and Pogo never gave me allowance 'cause, you know; drugs. So there I was, floating between sleeping on the streets and in alleyways, or in shitty bunk beds in rehab, or on strangers couches or floors. In 'Nam, there were the cots or motel beds, which were always flimsy. And now I'm thirty, man. All the money I've had for - shit - literally more than half my life has been spent on drugs, not _beds_. The beds here are great and all - amazing, really - but that's the thing. It's _too_ comfortable. I can't sleep on them," he explained, ending with a nonchalant shrug. It sounded pretty depressing, now that he thought about it, but it was the truth. 

 

After he finished explaining it everyone simply stared at him with a mix of expressions. Klaus offered an awkward smile.

 

He hated family meetings about himself.

 

He gave Ben a look that said  _is it really that bad?_

 

Ben responded with his own look that said  _to a normal person; yes._

 

Klaus grimaced.

 

"I'm, uh... sorry, Klaus," Diego uttered, and the others followed suit. 

 

"No, no, don't be stupid; look, just stop kicking me when I sleep and we're all good," he said, waving his hands dismissively.

 

"Maybe we can look into buy a - a cot, or something? Like the ones you're used to?" Luther offered. The idea startled Klaus and he tipped his head to the side before shrugging.

 

"Do whatever," he said, but he smiled at Luther. "Thanks, bro. Neat idea. But, we're all clear now, yeah? Because I was so rudely awoken and I'm going back to sleep."

 

There was a few soft laughs but everyone did seem satisfied with his explanation, and Klaus heard a few more murmurings about ideas of getting him a cot, or a thinner mattress, or whatever. Klaus left the living room, stretching his stiff muscles and glancing around. He was still tired; he hadn't been lying about that. He followed wherever his feet took him, and ended up curling up in the corner of the foyer, next to a radiator that was pleasantly warm.

 

When he woke up with a blanket draped across him, he pulled it in tighter and kept his eyes closed. 


End file.
